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The UK Government currently spends around £11 billion on roads, https://www.statista.com/statistics/298667/united-kingdom-uk-public-sector-expenditure-national-

The UK Government currently spends around £11 billion on roads, https://www.statista.com/statistics/298667/united-kingdom-uk-public-sector-expenditure-national-roads/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/298667/united-kingdom-uk... so the excess is a handy revenue stream which clearly it would lothed to give up. That means the real opportunities with the switch to electrifying transportation, like moving freight traffic to rail will not be seized as that would entail even more spending. Instead we are stuck with the problem that every solution to climate change is along the same lines of "just like before but this time with electricity".

matsemann 4y ago
> The UK Government currently spends around £11 billion on roads How much does it spend on secondary things? At least in Norway, I think the number is that even for a normal ICE vehicle and all it's costs, you're still not paying what the government actually spends in total. With something like $1000 per car or so. Mostly because of secondary effects. Higher hospital costs vs what would have happened investing that money on public transport, walkable cities etc. Street parking is basically free compared to what that land is worth. Cost of accidents. Etc. etc.
rcMgD2BwE72F 4y ago
> The UK Government currently spends around £11 billion on roads, https://www.statista.com/statistics/298667/united-kingdom-uk https://www.statista.com/statistics/298667/united-kingdom-uk... so the excess is a handy revenue stream which clearly it would lothed to give up. There's no excess when you account for the effects on climate. At some point, we'll have to pay to mitigate the impact of fossil-based transportation, and any operators in the industry (from oil extraction to road constructions) will be bankrupt unless we keep externalizing/socializing the costs and pretend climate change is not caused by CO2 emissions.
arethuza 4y ago
I wonder about council spending on roads and spending by the devolved governments - are they included in that total?

matsemann 4y ago

> The UK Government currently spends around £11 billion on roads How much does it spend on secondary things? At least in Norway, I think the number is that even for a normal ICE vehicle and all it's costs, you're still not paying what the government actually spends in total. With something like $1000 per car or so. Mostly because of secondary effects. Higher hospital costs vs what would have happened investing that money on public transport, walkable cities etc. Street parking is basically free compared to what that land is worth. Cost of accidents. Etc. etc.

rcMgD2BwE72F 4y ago

> The UK Government currently spends around £11 billion on roads, https://www.statista.com/statistics/298667/united-kingdom-uk https://www.statista.com/statistics/298667/united-kingdom-uk... so the excess is a handy revenue stream which clearly it would lothed to give up. There's no excess when you account for the effects on climate. At some point, we'll have to pay to mitigate the impact of fossil-based transportation, and any operators in the industry (from oil extraction to road constructions) will be bankrupt unless we keep externalizing/socializing the costs and pretend climate change is not caused by CO2 emissions.

arethuza 4y ago

I wonder about council spending on roads and spending by the devolved governments - are they included in that total?